Printing, displaying, and etching advertisements on various media

ABSTRACT

Advertisement systems and methods for distributing advertisements are provided. An advertising system according to one embodiment includes an advertisement server configured to manage the ordering and printing of advertisements at predetermined locations and at predetermined times. The advertising system also includes a plurality of printing devices operating at the predetermined locations, each printing device configured to print an advertisement on an item associated with a purchase. A network is configured to enable communication between the advertisement server and the plurality of printing devices. The printing devices are configured to print the advertisements according to the plurality of predetermined times based on when at least one advertiser intends for the advertisements to be printed. Other implementations of advertisement systems include three-dimensional printing or etching of advertisements and displaying advertisements on electronic devices. Advertising may also be based on weather conditions, traffic conditions, or other conditions.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/667,711, filed Nov. 2, 2012, titled “System for Printing anAdvertisement on a Ticket,” which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C.§119 of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/555,842, filed on Nov. 4,2011, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated by referenceherein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to advertising, and moreparticularly relates to printing, displaying, and/or etchingadvertisements on various types of media.

BACKGROUND

For years, businesses have created advertisements to endorse theirproducts, brands, etc. Normally, these advertisements can be presentedto an audience in a number of ways. For example, some advertisements maybe presented in printed form and published in newspapers, magazines,flyers, etc. Other advertisements may be presented in audible form, suchas those communicated over the radio. Still others may include bothvisual and audible elements, such as those that are commonly presentedon television or on a computer, Regarding printed advertisements, somebusinesses, such as restaurants, may choose to advertise by printingcoupons. These coupons can be combined with other coupons from otherbusinesses in coupon books, printed in newspapers and magazines, orprinted on individual cards or flyers. Despite the numerous ways that abusiness may advertise, businesses are continually looking for new waysto distribute advertisements and coupons to their audience.

Also, businesses usually attempt to present their advertisements in away that will reach the type of audience that they intend to target. Forexample, businesses may wish to purchase television advertisement slotsto show commercials to an audience that may be more likely to buy theirproducts or patronize their establishments. The advertisements can thenmore sharply focus on viewers who might have more of a tendency to watchthe associated television programs. This can be done to expose theintended audience with their advertisements. It would be desirable for abusiness, however, to have greater flexibility in advertising to be ableto target their audience so that advertisements can reach the peoplethat may be more likely to use their products or visit theirestablishments

SUMMARY

The present disclosure describes various implementations related toadvertising systems and methods for ordering, organizing, managing,creating, and distributing advertisements. Accordingly, in oneembodiment, an advertising system includes an advertisement serverconfigured to manage the printing of advertisements at a plurality ofpredetermined locations and at a plurality of predetermined times. Theadvertising system also includes a plurality of printing devicesoperating at the plurality of predetermined locations, each printingdevice configured to print an advertisement on an item associated with apurchase. A network is configured to enable communication between theadvertisement server and the plurality of printing devices. The printingdevices are configured to print the advertisements according to theplurality of predetermined times based on when at least one advertiserintends for the advertisements to be printed. Other implementations ofadvertisement systems include three-dimensional printing or etching ofadvertisements and displaying advertisements on electronic devices.Advertising may also be based on weather conditions, traffic conditions,or other conditions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features illustrated in the following figures are intended toemphasize the general principles of the present disclosure and are notnecessarily drawn to scale. Consistent reference characters are usedthroughout the figures to designate corresponding features.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a conventional ticket distributionsystem.

FIGS. 2A-2D are block diagrams showing advertisement systems accordingto various implementations of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams showing more advertisement systemsaccording to various implementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a lottery server according to variousimplementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a ticket printing device according tovarious implementations of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 6A through 6H are diagrams of exemplary lottery tickets printedwith advertisements, according to various implementations of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing another advertisement system accordingto various implementations of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing yet another advertisement systemaccording to various implementations of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for creating anadvertisement strategy, which may include not only the advertisementitself, but also time and location information for specifying when andwhere the advertisement is to be run. However, rather than usingconventional means of presenting an advertisement to an audience, theadvertisements according to various implementations of the presentdisclosure may be printed on various types of media, displayed onvarious types of electronic devices, and/or broadcast over wirelesscommunication channels. With the embodiments of the present disclosure,an advertiser or advertiser's representative can easily create and/orupload an advertisement to an advertisement server disclosed herein.Approved advertisements can be immediately printed, displayed, and/orbroadcast to a selected audience without additional intermediate stepstypically involved in the field of advertising.

Printing Advertisements on Tickets

For example, advertisements may be printed on any suitable type ofticket, such as a movie ticket, sporting event ticket, concert ticket,theater ticket, lottery ticket, rapid transit ticket, train ticket,airline ticket, or ticket for other events or purposes. In particular,the implementations disclosed herein may be combined with a lotterysystem, whereas an advertisement can be printed on a lottery ticket thatis distributed to a person purchasing the lottery ticket. In particular,lottery tickets (and other types of tickets) represent a unique purchasein that they are printed for an individual at a known location and time.Unlike coupons that might normally get thrown away or ignored, thelottery ticket is usually held by the purchaser and read multiple timesduring the short lifespan of the ticket.

Using the implementations described in the present disclosure, anadvertiser can create one or more advertisement strategies using aprocess involving online systems. The advertisements can then bedistributed to ticket printing devices to be printed for individuals whowish to purchase some type of ticket. The regular ticket information isprinted on the ticket along with the advertisement, and the ticket canbe handed to the customer. With the example of lottery tickets, theadvertisement can be printed on the same ticket that includes thelottery numbers. By allowing the advertisers to choose where theadvertisements are printed, the advertisements can be distributed topeople who might live or work in a specific area (e.g., near aparticular restaurant). For example, lottery ticket printing devices,sometimes referred to as point-of-sale (POS) lottery machines, areusually housed in known, fixed locations, such as in convenience stores,gas stations, grocery stores, restaurants, bars, and other venues. Also,ads can be delivered to smart phone or other mobile devices where thelocation, approximate or specific, can be determined by GPS or otherlocation positioning means.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a conventional ticketdistribution system 10. As shown, the ticket distribution system 10includes a ticket managing server 12 and a plurality of ticket printingdevices 14, where the ticket managing server 12 communicates with theticket printing devices 14 via a private network 16. The ticket managingserver 12 may store ticket information in a database 18. In someembodiments, the ticket printing devices 14 do not communicate with eachother, but only communicate with the ticket managing server 12. Theticket distribution system 10 may be a closed system that would normallynot operate over the Internet. For security purposes, the privatenetwork 16 is normally inaccessible to devices outside the ticketdistribution system 10.

In some embodiments, the ticket distribution system 10 is a lotterysystem that manages and controls the distribution and printing oflottery tickets. The ticket managing server 12 may include one or morecomputers for a state lottery system or may be the main computer(s) fora lottery system that extends into multiple states, such as the MegaMillions and Power Ball lottery systems. The ticket printing devices 14may represent the point-of sale (POS) lottery machines where a customercan purchase a lottery ticket. In other embodiments, the ticketdistribution system 10 may be related to a system for distributing andprinting other types of tickets, such as movie tickets, concert tickets,airline tickets, etc.

When a customer wishes to purchase a lottery ticket (e.g., a ticket forMega Millions, Power Ball, Daily Double, Pick 3, Pick 4, Win For Life,or other lottery game), the ticket printing device 14 prints out thelottery ticket with a certain number of lottery numbers. These lotterynumbers may be selected by the customer or may be randomly selected.When random numbers are selected, the ticket distribution system 10 mayinclude two different scenarios for picking the random numbers. In oneembodiment, the ticket managing server 12 may be informed by aparticular ticket printing device 14 that numbers are to be selected andwill then pick random numbers (e.g., using a random number generator)and supply these numbers to the particular ticket printing device 14. Inanother embodiment, the ticket printing device 14 itself may beconfigured to randomly pick numbers if the device is equipped with arandom number generator. Once the numbers are picked, the ticketprinting device 14 can print the lottery ticket.

When the ticket printing device 14 selects the random numbers (or if thenumbers are selected by the customer), the lottery numbers arecommunicated to the ticket managing server 12 in order that the ticketmanaging server 12 can store information about the lottery ticket sold,such as the lottery numbers on the ticket, the time and date when theticket was sold, and the location where the ticket was sold (i.e., anestablishment that houses the ticket printing device 14). If the ticketmanaging server 12 picks the random numbers, the ticket managing server12 stores the same information about the lottery ticket sold (i.e., thelottery numbers, time, date, and location information). This informationcan be stored in the database 18.

According to some reports, the sale of lottery tickets in the UnitedStates exceeded $50 billion in 2011, which is about $200 per capita.Also, there were over 200,000 lottery ticket printing devices 14operating in the U.S. in 2011, and the number of devices continues torise. From this information, it can be determined that a typical ticketprinting device 14 may print over 200,000 tickets per year, or more thanabout 20 per hour.

FIGS. 2A through 2D are block diagrams illustrating various embodimentsof advertisement systems according to various implementations of thepresent disclosure. The advertisement systems of FIGS. 2A-2D includeadvertisement distribution systems combined with ticket distributionsystems. The advertisement distribution systems can be incorporated withany type of ticket distribution system that includes printing facilitieslocated in specific locations where an advertisement can be printed onany suitable medium. In some embodiments, the ticket distributionsystems are lottery systems. The ticket printing devices 34 in theseembodiments may be configured to print any type of tickets, depending onthe type of system in which they are deployed. For example, in asporting event ticket printing system, the ticket printing devices 34may be configured to print tickets for a particular sporting event. Theprinted tickets may include lottery tickets, movie tickets, concerttickets, sporting event tickets, rapid transit tickets, airline tickets,or other types of tickets. In some embodiments, the ticket printingdevices 34 may alternatively be configured to print other types of items(e.g., pamphlets, brochures, flyers, newspapers, magazines, etc.).

The advertisement systems of FIGS. 2A-2D may represent a system that isconfigured for a single state (e.g., Georgia), multiple states, acountry, multiple countries, or other geographical or political regions.For example, when configured with a lottery system, one advertisementsystem may be located in each state, and communication may take placebetween systems of other states, particularly for interstate lotterygames (e.g., Mega Millions, Power Ball, etc.).

It should be noted that each advertisement system of FIGS. 2A-2D mayinclude security measures that are incorporated throughout therespective system. Thus, when an advertisement is created, securityelements are added. Also, when advertisements are distributed to theticket printing devices 34, the security elements can be verified toensure that the advertisements are authentic. Furthermore, when anadvertisement is printed, the ticket printing devices 34 may also checkthe security elements. The security elements may includeencoding/decoding protocols, encryption/decryption protocols, or otherprotocols that are known by some or all of the components (e.g., theticket managing server 32, ticket printing devices 34, and advertisementmanaging system 40) of the systems of FIG. 2. In some embodiments, thecomponents of the systems may utilize code characters, passwords, orother codes that are configured to change in a certain way. For example,a code number may increase by a certain value on a regular basis (e.g.,every day). Also, the components of the systems may be configured to useand check for certain advertisement characteristics to ensure security.For example, these advertisement characteristics may include a specificsize of an image of the advertisement, a specific type of file, a filenaming convention, a specific number of dots per inch (dpi) for theadvertisements, or other characteristics.

The advertisement systems of FIGS. 2A-2D may allow an advertiser topromote local events, drive business to a particular store, promotebrand affinity with local organizations (e.g., local sports teams),promote special events (e.g., sporting events, fairs, festivals, etc.),and even raise money for charity. The advertisement systems allowadvertisers to easily target specific areas. Also, advertisers can runadvertisements at specific times, depending on local events or otheroccurrences that may have a limited duration (e.g., a fair or circus ina local area, etc.).

As opposed to a system that includes an advertisement for one advertiserthat is printed on all tickets in a batch, the advertisement systems ofthe present disclosure enable multiple advertisers to advertise as manyadvertisements as they wish and have the advertisements targeted at onlycertain locations. In this regard, the present disclosure provides avariable system that can select from among a plurality ofadvertisements, depending on various parameters. Also, theadvertisements can be printed on a ticket, as opposed to other media,which may normally be maintained more carefully by its holder than atypical coupon. Therefore, it may be more likely that the holder willview the advertisement more often.

FIG. 2A shows an embodiment of an advertisement system 30. In thisembodiment, the advertisement system 30 includes a ticket managingserver 32, ticket printing devices 34, a private network 36interconnecting the ticket managing server 32 with the ticket printingdevices 34, an advertisement managing system 40, user devices 42, and asecond network 44 interconnecting the advertisement managing system 40with the user devices 42. Although not shown, the ticket printingdevices 34 may, according to some implementations, be connected to thenetwork 44. As shown, the private network 36 and second network 44 areseparate from each other.

The advertisement system 30 may be incorporated into an already existingticket distribution system that includes, for example, the ticketmanaging server 32, ticket printing devices 34, and private network 36.These elements may be similar to the corresponding elements shown inFIG. 1. However, according to the embodiments described in the presentdisclosure, the ticket distribution system portion of the advertisementsystem 30 not only prints tickets and records information about thetickets, but also may be configured to alter the tickets, such as bycreating a space or place holder that allows one or more advertisementsto also be printed on the ticket. Advertisements that are created by theadvertisement managing system 40 may be stored in a database or othermemory device. According to various embodiments, one or more databasesor memory devices may be connected to the ticket managing server 32, theadvertisement managing system 40, and/or the ticket printing devices 34.Then, when a ticket is to be printed, an advertisement is retrieved fromthe database and printed along with the ticket information.

Regarding the aspect of creating an advertisement or planning anadvertisement strategy, the advertisement system 30 uses theadvertisement managing system 40. The advertisement managing system 40is configured to communicate with one or more user devices 42 via thenetwork 44. According to some embodiments, the network 44 may be a localarea network (LAN) and/or a wide area network (WAN), such as theInternet. The network 44 may include wired and/or wireless components.In some embodiments, the network 44 may be omitted altogether such thatcommunication between the user devices 42 and the advertisement managingsystem 40 involves physically delivering a data storage device (e.g.,CD, flash drive, or other portable storage device) from one device tothe other.

When the network 44 is configured for local communication, the userdevices 42 may represent terminals used by people who are associatedwith the advertisement managing system 40 for inputting advertisementorders for various clients. In other embodiments, the user devices 42may represent computers or other processing devices connected to theadvertisement managing system 40 via the Internet, where these userdevices 42 are used by advertisers who wish to create an advertisementonline. In this respect, the advertisement managing system 40 mayinclude a web server for providing a website where users can create oneor more advertisements and/or plan advertisement strategies orcampaigns.

The ticket distribution portion and advertisement portion are combinedin the embodiment of FIG. 2A by a bridge 46, which may include apermanent or removable conductor connecting the ticket managing server32 with the advertisement managing system 40. The bridge 46 may includeUSB connections, a dedicated conductor, a Secure Shell (SSH) connection,or other suitable connectivity between the various servers. The serversmay be synchronized using an SSH protocol. In some embodiments, thebridge 46 may be replaced with an indirect connection, such as providinginformation on a memory device (e.g., CD, flash drive, etc.) andphysically transferring information from one device to the other. Insome embodiments, the ticket managing server 32 and advertisementmanaging system 40 may communicate using a third network on which onlythese two systems communicate.

Regardless of the manner in which the devices are connected, theadvertisement managing system 40 communicates advertisements andassociated information to the ticket managing server 32 to enableprinting of the advertisements on tickets according to specificinstructions. Also, the ticket managing server 32 communicatesinformation back to the advertisement managing system 40 providingverification that all or some of the advertisements to be printed haveindeed been printed. The verification information may includeadvertisement information (which advertisement(s) were printed), thetime and date when the advertisement(s) were printed on the tickets,when the ticket was handed to a customer, and the locations where theadvertisement(s) were printed. Ticket information does not normally needto be supplied to the advertisement portion of the advertisement system30. Therefore, the bridge 46 may provide secure communication and mayprevent the user devices 42 or other components of the advertisingportion of the system 30 from communicating with or hacking into theticket managing server 32.

Communication between the ticket distribution portion of theadvertisement system 30 and the advertisement portion of theadvertisement system 30 may be made on a limited basis. For example,advertisements may be communicated to the ticket portion on an hourlybasis, daily basis, weekly basis, or other suitable time intervals.Also, confirmation of the printing of advertisements may be communicatedback to the advertisement portion on an hourly, daily, weekly, or othertimely basis. It should be noted that some or all of the featuresdescribed herein with respect to FIG. 2A may also be applicable to FIGS.2B-2D as well.

FIG. 2B is a second embodiment of an advertisement system 50. Theadvertisement system 50 in this embodiment is similar to the system 30of FIG. 2A, except that the ticket managing server 32 and advertisementmanaging system 40 are combined into one server or computer system,labeled as a ticket/advertisement managing system 52. In someembodiments, the ticket managing server 32 shown in FIG. 2A may bemodified to include the features of the advertisement managing system 40to provide the ticket/advertisement managing system 52. The modifiedticket server in this respect may include a second interface device toallow communication on the second network 44. According to someembodiments, the ticket/advertisement managing system 52 may include aswitch (e.g., electrical, mechanical, or electromechanical switch) thatenables the system 52 to operate as a ticket managing server at sometimes and to operate as an advertisement managing system at other times.The switch can also be used to switch between operating over the privatenetwork 36 at some times while operating on the second network 44 atother times.

FIG. 2C shows another embodiment of an advertisement system 60. In thisembodiment, the bridge 46 shown in FIG. 2A is omitted and instead theadvertisement managing system 40 is configured to connect to the privatenetwork 36 via a secure connector 62. The secure connector 62 may limitthe operations of the advertisement managing system 40 within theprivate network 36. As such, the advertisement managing system 40 mayprovide advertisements to the ticket managing server 32 and/or ticketprinting devices 34 and receive confirmation from the ticket printingdevices 34 or ticket managing server 32 as to when and where theadvertisements are printed.

FIG. 2D shows another embodiment of an advertisement system 70. In thisembodiment, the bridge 46 shown in FIG. 2A is omitted and instead theticket managing server 32 is configured to connect to the network 44 viaa secure connector 72. The secure connector 72 may limit or restrict theaccess that the components on the network 44 may have with the ticketmanaging server 32. The ticket managing server 32 may retrieveadvertisements from the advertisement managing system 40 via the network44 and may provide confirmation information to the advertisementmanaging system 40, or even directly to the user devices 42. Theconfirmation information may be designed to confirm which advertisementshave been printed, the time and date of printing, and the locationswhere they were printed.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams showing other embodiments ofadvertising systems according to the present disclosure. In theseembodiments, in contrast to the embodiments of FIGS. 2A-2D that operateover two separate networks, the ticket distribution portions andadvertisement portions exist together and operate over a common network.For example, the network in these embodiments may include a securenetwork. Since it may be much more expensive to operate on and maintainthe private network 36, costs can be reduced by operating on a singlenetwork. Therefore, the advertisement systems of FIGS. 3A and 3B, whichinclude both the ticket distribution portion and the advertisementportion, can operate on the Internet or other wide area network, whichmay be a less expensive alternative and save a large amount of money forthe ticket distribution systems or state lottery systems. Additionalsecurity measures in this case may be added to prevent unauthorizedaccess into the ticket distribution system (e.g., lottery system) viathe Internet.

FIG. 3A shows an embodiment of an advertisement system 80, whichincludes a ticket/advertisement managing system 82, a plurality ofticket printing devices 84, and a plurality of user devices 86,interconnected by way of a network 88. The network 88 may include theInternet and may also include local or other wide area networks. In thisembodiment, the ticket/advertisement managing system 82 communicateswith the ticket printing devices 84 via the network 88. Theticket/advertisement managing system 82 in this embodiment may beconfigured to perform the ticket distribution functions and perform theadvertisement functions as described in the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the ticket/advertisement managing system 82 may beconfigured to communicate with the user devices 86 in a limitedcapacity. The user devices 86 may be used as mentioned above to createor plan an advertisement strategy. The user devices 86 may access theticket/advertisement managing system 82 to perform the advertisementfunctions.

Information regarding the advertisement strategies that are created bythe ticket/advertisement managing system 82 is configured to combine theadvertisements, according to the advertisement strategies, with theticket information (e.g., lottery numbers). The advertisementinformation and ticket information may be stored on separate databasesor in the same database. The ticket/advertisement managing system 82instructs the respective ticket printing devices 84 that when a ticketis to be printed, it is printed with the combination of a selectedadvertisement and ticket information on the ticket. Theticket/advertisement managing system 82 may also provide informationabout printed advertisements to the specific user devices 86 to informthe respective advertisers or agents associated with advertisers of theresults of the advertisement strategies.

FIG. 3B is a block diagram of another advertisement system 100, which issimilar to FIG. 3A. In this embodiment, however, the ticket managingserver 102 and advertisement managing system 104 are individuallyconfigured as separate components on the network 88. In this way, it maybe easier to separate the ticket distribution functions from theadvertisement functions. Also, the ticket managing server 102 may bespecifically configured to limit or restrict access by the user devices86.

According to additional embodiments with respect to the presentdisclosure, the embodiments of FIGS. 2A-2D, 3A, and 3B may furtherinclude means for issuing mobile tickets, such as mobile lottery ticketsor other types of mobile tickets. For example, in place of the ticketprinting devices 34 and 84, a transmitter or wireless communicationdevice may be employed using any suitable wireless protocol. Thewireless communication device in this case may be configured to conductthe sale of virtual tickets to users of mobile devices (e.g., mobilephones, smart phones, tablets, laptop computers, or other mobiledevices) and receive a fee for the sale of the virtual ticket. In someinstances, the exact location or general location of a purchaser may bedetermined by GPS or other positioning protocols.

In addition to ticket information that might normally be displayed on adisplay screen of the mobile device, the virtual tickets may alsoinclude an area for an advertisement. Therefore, when the ticketinformation is displayed, the advertisement may also be displayed on thesame screen whenever the virtual ticket is shown. In some embodiments,the advertisement may be displayed on the screen independently of thedisplay of the ticket information. For example, the advertisement may beflashed on the screen when the virtual ticket is first purchased or maybe displayed at random or predetermined times after purchase.

Advertisements using the mobile device may allow the particularestablishment to offer a unique advertisement to mobile device users.For example, in a restaurant environment, if a customer purchases aticket (e.g., virtual lottery ticket), the same restaurant may utilizethe advertisement systems of the present disclosure to send an ad to thecustomer while the customer is still on the premises. The advertisementin this case may include an instruction for the customer to “Call yourwaitress to find out about getting a dessert for half off” or some othertype of message.

In addition to using mobile devices for receiving a virtual ticket,mobile devices may also be used in place of the user device 42, 86.Thus, the mobile device can communicated with the advertisement portionof the advertisement systems of FIGS. 2 and 3. Particularly, a user maywish to access the advertisement managing system 40, 104 via the network44, 88 using the mobile device. In this example, the network 44, 88 maybe configured to include cellular communication, Wi-Fi, or otherwireless protocols. In this respect, the user may be enabled to createan advertisement and advertisement strategy using a smart phone or othermobile device. Using the mobile device, a user can also edit anadvertisement, turn on an advertisement, turn off an advertisement usingthe user's own discretion.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a ticketmanaging server 120. According to some embodiments, the ticket managingserver 120 may represent the ticket managing server 32 shown in FIG. 2A,2C, or 2D, or the ticket managing server 102 shown in FIG. 3B. Also, theticket managing server 120 may represent all or parts of theticket/advertisement managing system 52, 82 shown in FIG. 2B and FIG.3A, respectively.

The ticket managing server 120 may be configured to manage and organizeticket systems in which a number of tickets may be printed, even atmultiple locations. The ticket managing server 120 may be used for theprinting and/or distribution of various types of tickets, such astickets for movies, sporting events, concerts, lotteries, metro traintransit, bus transit, train transit, or other types. The ticket managingserver 120 also controls a printing functionality that allows anadvertisement to be printed on the ticket along with the normal ticketinformation.

Also, according to some embodiments, the ticket managing server 120 maybe a lottery server for managing the operations of a lottery system,such as a state-run lottery system. However, according to variousimplementations of the present disclosure, the ticket managing server120 may also include additional components that allow the ticketmanaging server 120 to not only manage lottery functionality, but alsoto allow advertisements to be printed on lottery tickets.

The ticket managing server 120 may be configured to enable the printingof advertisements based on certain time and location specifications,which may be entered by a user, such as an advertiser or a personassociated with an advertiser. The time and location specifications maybe configured to control a time period when a particular advertisementis to be printed. The time period may include not only dates, but timesof the day as well. For example, an advertiser may wish for anadvertisement to be printed from 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm on one particularday. The location specifications designate particular printing locationswhere the tickets may be printed. For example, with respect to theprinting of lottery tickets, lottery ticket printing devices may behoused in known stores, such as gas stations, convenience stores,grocery stores, restaurants, etc. In this way, the advertisers are ableto control which locations are intended to print their advertisements.

As shown in FIG. 4, the ticket managing server 120 comprises aprocessing device 122, a database manager 123, an ad database 124, aticket information database 126, a first interface device 128, a secondinterface device 130, a ticket image module 132, asecurity/identification module 134, and a random number generator 136.The processing device 122 may be configured to control the overalloperations of the ticket managing server 120. The components of theticket managing server 120 may be configured in a single computer or maybe configured in multiple computer systems and interconnected by asuitable network or bus interface. The computer(s) may include one ormore processing devices, such as general-purpose or specific purposeprocessors or microcontrollers for controlling the operations andfunctions of the ticket managing server 120.

The computer(s) may also include one or more memory devices, which maybe configured as internally fixed storage units, removable storageunits, and/or remotely accessible storage units, each including atangible, non-transitory storage medium. The various storage units mayinclude any combination of volatile memory (e.g., random access memory(RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), etc.) and non-volatile memory (e.g., readonly memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM),flash memory, etc.). The storage units may be configured to store anycombination of information, data, instructions, software code, etc.

In some embodiments, the components of the ticket managing server 120may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combinationsthereof. For example, portions of the ticket managing server 120 thatare implemented in software or firmware may be stored on anon-transitory memory device, such as a computer-readable media device,and may be executable by a suitable instruction execution system, suchas a processing device. The portions implemented in hardware may includediscrete logic circuitry, an application specific integrated circuit(ASIC), a programmable gate array (PGA), a field programmable gate array(FPGA), or any combinations thereof.

The functions, operations, and/or programs executed by the ticketmanaging server 120 may comprise an ordered listing of executableinstructions for implementing logical functions and can be embodied inany computer-readable medium for use by an instruction execution systemor device, such as a computer-based system, processor-controlled system,etc. In the context of the present disclosure, a computer-readablemedium can be any medium that can contain, store, communicate,propagate, or transport programs for execution by the instructionexecution system or device. Examples of computer-readable medium mayinclude electronic, magnetic, electromagnetic, optical, infrared, orother systems or devices.

In some embodiments, the database manager 123 and ad database 124 may beomitted from the ticket managing server 120 and may be incorporated in aremote device and accessed via the first interface device 128 or secondinterface device 130. The advertisements may be bundled by theadvertisement managing system 40, 104 and transmitted to the ticketmanaging server 120. In this case, the ticket managing server 120controls the functions of ensuring that advertisements are printed alongwith ticket information. Otherwise, if this control is delegated to theadvertisement managing system 40, 104, or, in some embodiments,delegated to the ticket printing devices 34, 84, then the databasemanager 123 and the ad database 124 may be omitted. The advertisementscan be retrieved by the processing device 122 as needed, either from thead database 124 or from a remote database.

In some embodiments, the ad database 124 and ticket information database126 may be combined into a single database. However, it may bepreferable to keep the information related to the ticket system separatefrom the advertisements, particular since certain ticket information(e.g., lottery numbers) usually requires separation from the public. Theticket information database 126 may include ticket information such aslottery numbers printed on lottery tickets throughout a lottery system.The ticket information may also include the dates and times when theticket information (e.g., lottery numbers) were printed and the locationof the ticket printing device 34, 84 that printed the information.

The first interface device 128 and second interface device 130 may becombined into a single interface, according to some embodiments. Forexample, a single interface may suffice when the ticket managing server120 is in communication with the network 88 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.When implemented as shown in FIG. 4, the interface devices may beconfigured to communicate over different networks. For example, thefirst interface device 128 may be configured to communicate with devicesconnected to a private network, such as the private network 36 shown inFIGS. 2A-2D, and the second interface device 130 may be configured tocommunicate with devices connected to another network, such as network44 shown in FIGS. 2A-2D or network 88 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

The second interface device 130 may be configured to receive theadvertisement and/or advertisement strategies from the advertisementmanaging system 40, 104, the ad strategies created for advertisersrepresenting advertisements and time/location information describingwhen and where the advertisements are intended to be printed. Also, thesecond interface device 130 may provide confirmation information back tothe advertisement managing system 40, 104 confirming for the advertisersthat the advertisements were printed. The confirmation information mayinclude information regarding the advertisement printed and thetime/date and location when and where the advertisements were printed.

The random number generator 136 is configured to randomly pick lotterynumbers, particularly for a lottery system. For example, if a customervisits a location where a ticket printing device 34, 84 is placed andwishes to purchase a lottery ticket but does not wish to enter specificnumbers, the numbers may be randomly generated either at the ticketprinting device itself or at the ticket managing server 120. In thisexample, the ticket managing server 120 may be configured as a lotteryserver. Either way, the numbers eventually are communicated to theticket managing server 120 and stored in the ticket information database126 so that the ticket managing server 120 can verify if a winningticket has been issued. If someone comes forward with an alleged winningticket but the winning numbers do not match any ticket informationcommunicated to the ticket managing server 120 and stored in the ticketinformation database 126, then it can be determined that the ticket mayhave been forged. Also, the security/identification module 134 mayassist in verifying winning tickets. Referring again to the randomnumber generator 136, when the ticket managing server 120 receives arequest from a ticket printing device 34, 84 to provide random numbersfor a particular lottery game, the processing device 122 can give thelimitations of the random numbers (e.g., numbers from 1 to 40) to therandom number generator 136 to obtain the lottery numbers to be printedon the lottery ticket at the ticket printing device 34, 84.

The ticket image module 132 shown in FIG. 4 may be configured to combinethe ticket information (e.g., lottery numbers) with an advertisementselected from the ad database 124 or other data source. Regarding theexample of the lottery system, the lottery numbers may be obtainedrandomly from the random number generator 136, obtained randomly from arandom number generator at the ticket printing device 34, 84, orobtained from numbers entered manually at the ticket printing device 34,84. The processing device 122 may be configured to select anadvertisement from the ad database 124 based on several factors. Forexample, the advertisements may be stored along with specific printingcriteria for defining that advertisements are to be printed at onlycertain ticket printing devices 34, 84. When a ticket image is to becombined by the ticket image module 132, an advertisement, which isassociated with the particular ticket printing device 34, 84 where theticket information is to be printed, is selected. Also, certain timeparameters are stored as well. These parameters indicate when theadvertisements are to be printed. As an example, an advertiser maycreate an advertisement with instructions to print the ad only at acertain location (e.g., a ticket printing device located at a Speedwaygas station in Buford, Ga.) between the hours of 2 pm and 7 pm on FridayOct. 5, 2012. If at least these criteria are met, this particularadvertisement is combined with the ticket information (e.g., lotterynumbers) in a particular fashion (as described below).

If more than one advertisement is scheduled to be printed at a certainlocation at a certain time, other criteria may be analyzed by theprocessing device 122 to determine which advertisement is actuallyselected. For example, the selection may be based on how many more timesan advertisement is to be printed, how much an advertiser is paying foreach advertisement, how close the current time is to an end timeparameter for an advertisement, and/or other algorithms or parameters.

In some embodiments, the ticket managing server 120 may be configured tocreate a place holder on a ticket where an advertisement is to beprinted. The ticket information can be printed in other sections of theticket, but the place holder is reserved for only the advertisement.This allows tickets to be printed in advance and then an advertisementcan be printed in a particular section of the ticket (i.e., where theplace holder is located) to complete the printing process. Parametersmay be set to designate where an ad will go and then it is retrievedfrom the ad database 124 or other source to be printed.

The advertisement managing system 40, 104 may be configured to createadvertisement strategies for advertisers, where each advertisementstrategy includes an advertisement, a time period when the advertisementis to be printed, and one or more locations where the advertisement isto be printed. The ticket managing server 120 may be configured toreceive the advertisement strategies in bundles to be distributed tomultiple ticket printing devices 34, 84. The ticket managing server 120may then control the distribution to the printing devices based on thecriteria in the advertisement strategies. This information may also betransmitted in bundles to the individual ticket printing devices 34, 84or distributed one at a time when needed. When bundled, theadvertisements to be run at a certain time or on a certain day may betransmitted to the ticket printing device 34, 84, which will then storethe advertisements and print them during the designated times. Forexample, if ads are to run at a particular location from 6:00 to 7:00pm, the ads may be transmitted to the ticket printing device 34, 84 at5:00 pm. The way in which the advertisements are transmitted to theticket printing device 34, 84 may be different from the way that theadvertisements are transmitted from the advertisement managing system40, 104 to the ticket managing server 120.

The security/identification module 134 is configured to analyze theadvertisement strategies, both when they are received from theadvertisement managing system 40, 104 and before they are transmitted tothe ticket printing devices 34, 84. If it is determined that an ad iscorrupted, the security/identification module 134 may inform theprocessing device 122 about the corruption to filter out the ad andprevent the ad from being sent to the printing device. Also, whencorrupted, the processing device 122 may be configured to retrieve adefault or replacement ad from the ad database 124. The default orreplacement ad may be an advertisement from a major advertiser (e.g.,Coca-Cola). Corruption may be detected by the security/identificationmodule 134 if it is determined that the identity of a file containsimproper or unauthorized elements that do not match certain codes,format, or protocols. For example, the components of the advertisementsystems 30, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 100 may have synchronizedcoding/decoding elements, encryption/decryption elements, etc. to allowproper security throughout the system. Other format information may alsobe common throughout the system, such as the size and shape of anadvertisement or place holder, the resolution (dots per inch) of theadvertisement, and other factors. Also, the security/identificationmodule 134 as with other security modules throughout the system maycheck the identity of the components that sent the advertisements and/oradvertisement strategies. For example, the identity may be checked byanalyzing the MAC address, IP address, or other computer/deviceidentification codes of the device that provided the data. Securitythroughout the system may also be checked by running algorithms that arecoordinated with each authorized device.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a ticketprinting device 140. The ticket printing device 140 may represent theticket printing device 34 shown in FIGS. 2A-2D and/or the ticketprinting device 84 shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. As illustrated in theembodiment of FIG. 5, the ticket printing device 140 comprises aprocessing device 142, a random number generator 144, asecurity/identification module 146, a print control device 148, an imagecombiner 152, an interface device 154, an input device 156, a memorycontrol device 158, and a memory 160. The ticket printing device 140 maybe a computer terminal, a simple printer, or some intermediate typedevice, depending, for example, on the vendor, state, etc. According tovarious implementations, some components may be omitted and/orincorporated in other devices, such as in the ticket managing servers oradvertisement managing systems. For example, the random number generator144, image combiner 152, memory control device 158, and memory 160 maybe omitted in some embodiments, perhaps depending on the particular typethat the ticket printing device 140 is and the features that it mighthave.

As mentioned above with respect to the ticket managing server 120, theticket printing device 140 may comprise a random number generator 144.However, according to alternative embodiments, the random numbergenerator 144 may be omitted and random numbers may be obtained at theticket managing server 120 instead. The processing device 142 may beconfigured to control how the limitations of the numbers that arerandomly generated by the random number generator 144 are obtained. Forexample, if the customer wishes to play a Pick 4 lottery game thatinvolves picking four numbers ranging from one to ten, then theprocessing device 142 may request the random number generator 144 topick four numbers ranging from one to ten. If random numbers aregenerated remotely, the numbers may be communicated to the ticketprinting device 140 via the interface device 154.

If the customer wishes to choose his/her own numbers instead of having amachine randomly pick them, the customer's numbers can be entered usingthe input device 156. The input device 156 may be a keypad, keyboard, orother type of entry device allowing numbers to be entered manually.Also, the input device 156 may include a scanner that is configured toscan papers or cards having the customer's numbers shaded in, punchedout, marked up, or indicated in some other way.

The security/identification module 146 may include the same features atthe security/identification module 134 as mentioned above with respectto FIG. 4. This module 146 may check to make sure advertisementinformation is legitimate as it is received and before it is printed.

As described in the present disclosure, the ticket printing device 140not only prints a ticket (e.g., a lottery ticket or other type ofticket), but also is configured to print an advertisement on the ticketas well. A feature of the ticket printing device 140 is that theadvertisement to be printed is not a single advertisement that isprinted on all tickets, but may be an advertisement selected from amonga plurality of advertisements. Also, the times when the advertisementsare to be printed can be specified to allow an advertiser to control avery specific time frame when the advertisements are printed. Also, theactual location of the ticket printing device 140 (e.g., within aspecific store at a specific address) can also be selected by theadvertiser such that advertisements are only printed at locations wherethe advertiser chooses (e.g., only at stores within a five mile radiusfrom the advertiser's establishment).

Advertisements may be stored remotely from the ticket printing device140 according to some embodiments. In this case, the advertisement maybe selected according to specific time and location parameters andtransmitted to the ticket printing device 140. If the ticket information(e.g., lottery numbers) and selected advertisement are not alreadycombined into a single image, the ticket printing device 140 may beconfigured to combine the images using the image combiner 152. The imagecombiner 152 prints the ticket information (e.g., lottery information)on one section of the ticket and prints the advertisement information onanother section of the ticket. In some embodiments, the printing of thetwo sections may be done in one printing session. Alternatively, onesection may be printed at an earlier time and the other section may beprinted later to complete the printing process. Also, it may bepreferable that the two sections of the ticket (representing the ticketinformation in one section and the advertisement information in anothersection) are separated from each other. However, in other embodiments,the sections may overlap to some degree. The ticket printing device 140may follow any of various printing implementations for printing the twosections, as shown in more detail in FIGS. 6A-6H.

As mentioned above, advertisements may be stored remotely, such as in adatabase associated with the ticket managing server 120 and/oradvertisement managing system 40, 104. In this case, the advertisementsmay be provided to the ticket printing device 140 one by one as needed(e.g., when a ticket is to be printed). According to some embodiments,the advertisements may be bundled together and transmitted to the ticketprinting device 140 via the interface device 154. The bundledadvertisements may be stored in memory 160. Then, when an advertisementis to be printed, the memory control device 158 is configured to run analgorithm to select an advertisement that is to be printed. The memorycontrol device 158 selects the advertisement from memory 160 andsupplies the ad to the image combiner 152, where the advertisement iscombined with the ticket information.

The memory 160 may also store a default image that may be printed ifthere are no advertisements that meet the selection criteria of thememory control device 158. For example, a default image may include asimple text image informing potential advertisers that they may“Advertise Your Business Here” or other message. The default image mayalso include contact information, such as a phone number, web address,or other information to allow a potential advertiser to enter anadvertisement to be printed with tickets as described herein. Anothertype of default ad may include an advertisement for a low cost and/orhigh volume advertiser (e.g., Coca-Cola™). The memory 160 may also storea separator image, such as a line, dashed line, dotted line, etc. thatseparates the first section having the ticket information from thesecond section having the advertisement information. The separator mayalso include text, such as “cut here” or other message indicating theseparateness of each portion of the ticket. In this way, if theadvertisement is a coupon that may be redeemed at a certainestablishment, the ticket can be cut or ripped along the separator lineand the coupon can be used without also handing over the ticket, whichmay include lottery numbers for an upcoming lottery or other usefulticket information to provide other privileges to its holder.

The print control device 148 may include printing heads, ink jets, paperdispensing devices, or other printer mechanisms for printing onto paperor other paper-based material. In some embodiments, the print controldevice 148 may also include other features for cutting off a ticket ifthe ticket is printed from a roll of paper, thus allowing the ticket tobe completely severed from the roll. The print control device 148 mayalso be configured, according to various implementations, to createperforations along the separator line that separates the ticketinformation section from the advertisement information section. Thus,with perforations formed in the ticket, the ticket may be easily rippedinto two separate pieces, where one piece can be handed to an advertiserto redeem a coupon, for instance, and the other piece can be kept toenjoy the benefits of the ticket privileges. The print control device148 can also provide half-cuts for easy detachment. Also, the printcontrol device 148 may also be configured to print on both the front andback of the paper or card. For example, in some embodiments, the ticketinformation may be printed on one side of the ticket and theadvertisement may be printed on the other side. Also, the print controldevice 148 may be configured to receive ticket that already havepreprinted ticket information on the ticket with a place holder for anadvertisement, such that the print control device 148 only prints theadvertisement. In other embodiments, the ticket information andadvertisement are printed at the same time.

If the processing device 142 is configured to receive advertisementinformation immediately before printing and determines from theinterface device 154 that the network is busy, unavailable, or has someother issue, then a default or replacement ad may be retrieved frommemory 160 and printed. After an advertisement is printed, the interfacedevice 154 is configured to send confirmation information about theadvertisement that was printed and the time/date when it was printed.This information may be stored in memory 160 and sent as a group on aschedule basis (e.g., once a day, once a week, etc.). The information issent to the advertisement managing system 40, 104 either directly or viathe ticket managing server 32. Regarding lottery embodiments, theinterface device 154 also communicates lottery numbers to the ticketmanaging server 32.

As described in the present disclosure, the ticket printing device 140may comprise means for retrieving an advertisement from memory, such asthe memory control device 158. The ticket printing device 140 alsoincludes means for receiving ticket information, which may include anyone or more of the input device 156, random number generator 144, andinterface device 154. The ticket printing device 140 also includes means(e.g., print control device 148) for printing the ticket information andadvertisement on a single ticket. The ticket information, for example,includes information that entitles a bearer of the ticket to one or moreprivileges.

The ticket printing device 140 may further comprise the memory device160 configured to store one or more advertisements. The means forretrieving the advertisement may comprise an interface (e.g., interfacedevice 154) configured to retrieve the advertisement from a remotedatabase (e.g., ad database 124).

The ticket printing device 140 may be configured such that the singleticket that is printed is a lottery ticket. The ticket printing device140 may therefore further comprise a random number generator configuredto generate a plurality of lottery numbers to be printed on the lotteryticket.

The means for printing (e.g., print control device 148) may beconfigured to print the single ticket with a ticket section separatedfrom an advertisement section. The ticket section may include at leastthe ticket information and the advertisement section may include atleast the advertisement. The ticket section may be printed above theadvertisement section on the ticket. The advertisement section may beoriented at an angle with respect to the ticket section (FIG. 6F). Theadvertisement section may be printed with at least one of a quickresponse (QR) code 182 (FIG. 6B) and a barcode 192 (FIG. 6C). The ticketprinting device 140 may further comprise means for creating aperforation (e.g., print control device 148) separating the ticketsection from the advertisement section. The means for printing (e.g.,print control device 148) may also be configured to print at least theticket information on one side of the ticket and print the advertisementon the other side of the ticket.

FIGS. 6A through 6H illustrate many embodiments of lottery tickets thatmay be printed. As illustrated, the lottery ticket may also include anadvertisement. It should be noted that certain features of each of theembodiments shown in FIGS. 6A-6H may be combined in any suitable varietyof ways. Also, the features involving printing an advertisement on aticket may also be applied to printing ads on other types of tickets aswell, such as movie tickets, bus tickets, concert tickets, etc. Inaddition to the embodiments shown in FIG. 6, the ticket may also beprinted such that ticket information is printed on one side of theticket and an advertisement is printed on the other side.

FIG. 6A shows an image of a lottery ticket 170 having a ticketinformation section 172 and an advertisement section 174. In thisembodiment, the ticket information section 172 is located at the top ofthe lottery ticket 170 and the advertisement section 174 is located atthe bottom of the lottery ticket 170. The ticket information section172, when the ticket pertains to a lottery, includes lotteryinformation, such as the state (if applicable) holding the lottery,which in this example is the state of Georgia. The lottery informationin the ticket information section 172 may also include the specificlottery game (e.g., Pick 4), when the drawing is to be held (e.g.,Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012), the date the ticket was purchased, (e.g., Oct.12, 2012 at 2:50 pm), the lottery numbers (e.g., 1, 8, 3, and 4), and abar code that may include security information and/or identificationinformation. The lottery information may include at least thisinformation or may include less information or more informationdepending on the factors that may be controlled by the state, thespecific lottery game, or other factors. When the ticket is related toother types of tickets, the ticket information, of course, will includeother elements.

The advertisement section 174 of the lottery ticket 170 may include aname of the business being advertised (e.g., Big Bob's Pizza), contactinformation for the business (e.g., “Next to Gwinnett Place Mall770-555-1212”), advertising text (e.g., a coupon offering that states,“Buy One Large Pizza, Get a Second One Free”), and expiration date(e.g., “expires Oct. 20, 2012”), and an image. In this example, theimage is a slice of pizza. However, additional or other images mayinclude logos associated with the business or other suitable images.

FIGS. 6B and 6C are other examples of lottery tickets 180 and 190,respectively. In FIG. 6B, the lottery ticket 180 includes a quickresponse (QR) code 182, allowing a customer to obtain additionalinformation about the advertiser and/or advertisement. In FIG. 6C, thelottery ticket 190 includes a second code (i.e., a barcode 192), whichmay be associated with the particular business. FIG. 6C also shows aninstruction (e.g., “Cut Here”), which may be added on or near aseparator line separating the ticket information section from theadvertisement section.

FIG. 6D shows an embodiment of a lottery ticket 200 having a perforation202. In some embodiments, the perforation 202 may be formed in theticket, such as at the location of the separator line to allow theticket to be cleanly ripped into two respective pieces. Thus, if theadvertisement (i.e., coupon) is used to get the free second pizza at BigBob's Pizza, the lottery numbers do not have to be forfeited to Big Bobas well.

FIG. 6E shows another embodiment of a lottery ticket 210 wherein anadvertisement section 212 is located at the top of the ticket and aticket information section 214 is located at the bottom of the ticket.In other embodiments, the locations of the advertisement section 212 andticket information section 214 may be located at any portion of thelottery ticket 210 and may even overlap in some cases.

FIG. 6F shows another embodiment of another lottery ticket 220. In thisembodiment, a ticket information section 222 is oriented in a normalmanner, but an advertisement section 224 is oriented at an angle (e.g.,rotated 90 degrees counterclockwise). In other embodiments, the twosections 222 and 224 may be oriented at any angle with respect to theentire ticket 220 and/or at any angle with respect to each other.

FIG. 6G shows another embodiment of a lottery ticket 230. In thisembodiment, a ticket information section 232 is printed is a similarmanner as described above. However, an advertisement section 234 may beconfigured to display a default ad. For example, the default ad in thisexample may include a message (or advertisement) explaining or directingpotential advertisers to an advertisement managing system, which may beassociated with the advertisement managing system 40, 104 shown in FIGS.2-3. The default ad may include “Advertise Your Business Here” or othertype of message for communicating the concept of placing anadvertisement onto a lottery ticket. This message may be more commonduring an initial stage of an advertisement providing strategy when newadvertisers are trying to be reached. The default ad may also includecontact information, such as a website address, phone number, or otherinformation. The website address may be configured to enable a user oradvertiser to create an account with an advertising company and createspecific advertisement strategies. The advertisement strategies mayinclude the actual advertisement that is displayed on a ticket, such asthe images and text displayed in the advertisement sections shown inFIGS. 6A-6H. The advertisement strategies may also include specific timeand location information for allowing the advertisers to pick certaintime periods when the advertisements are to be printed and to pickcertain locations where the advertisements are to be printed. Thelocations may include a nationwide campaign, statewide campaign, orother definable areas, even allowing an advertiser to specificallyidentify individual locations where ticket printing devices are placed(e.g., specific gas stations), which may be near the business beingadvertised.

FIG. 6H is another embodiment of a lottery ticket 240. In thisembodiment, the lottery ticket 240 is configured to have a greater sizethan a regular lottery ticket to accommodate the additionaladvertisement information. In this way, more information may be printedonto a ticket, such as additional text (i.e., “As everyone knows: BigBob's is the Best!”).

Printing Advertisements on Other Media

According to other examples, advertisements may also be printed onvarious types of media, such as paper, cardstock, cardboard, plastic,Styrofoam, metal, or other suitable media. In particular, theimplementations disclosed herein may include printing an ad on an itemassociated with a purchase. For example, these items on which the adsare printed may be items used for delivering a purchased product to acustomer or items used by the customer when consuming the purchasedproduct. The items on which the ads are printed may also be disposableitems. In some embodiments, ads may be printed on items associated witha purchase, such as those used in fast food restaurants, coffee shops,grocery stores, and other stores serving food, drinks, desserts, etc.For example, the ad-bearing items may include beverage cups, napkins,sandwich/burger wrappers, French fry containers, paper placemats, trayliners, paper take-out bags, paper grocery bags, pizza boxes, flyersglued to pizza boxes, stickers or flyers applied to various disposableproducts, coffee/hot-beverage cups, heat-insulating sleeves used oncoffee cups, etc. In this respect, the advertising systems may be incommunication with fast food restaurants or other food or beveragestores to enable an advertiser to advertise at specific locations. Theadvertisements are thereby provided to customers making a food orbeverage purchase at a known location and time. Because of the time andlocation aspects of the advertisement systems of the presentapplication, the advertisements can be strategically provided tocustomers according to predetermined advertisement arrangements. Also,new advertising campaigns can be quickly implemented due to suddenchanges or newly discovered needs.

Using the implementations described in the present disclosure, anadvertiser can create one or more advertisement strategies using aprocess involving online systems, as described above. The advertisementscan then be distributed to printing devices in food or beverage servicefacilities to be printed for individuals who wish to purchase foodand/or beverages. The advertisement can be printed in a designated spoton the item associated with a purchase, such as on a disposable item,and may include a predetermined size or shape, depending on theparticular item being advertised on. As mentioned above, advertisers canchoose where the advertisements are to be printed. Therefore, theadvertisements can be distributed to people who might live or work in aspecific area (e.g., near the fast food or beverage store). Further,advertisement campaigns can be tailored to fit within an individualcommunity where the ads will appear. Printing devices located within thestores may include location information to specifically identify thelocation of the store.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of an advertisementsystem 300 according to various implementations of the presentdisclosure. The advertisement system 300 of FIG. 7 includes a network302 configured to enable communication among a number of electroniccomponents. The network 302 may include a wide area network, such as theInternet, a local area network, and/or other suitable types of networks.The advertisement system 300 also includes an advertisement server 304configured to enable advertisers to create and/or upload advertisements,select day and time information to specify when they want theadvertisements printed, and select location information to specify wherethey want the advertisements printed. The entry of location, day, andtime information may be similar to the embodiments described above.

The user devices 306 of the advertisement system 300 may include remotecomputing devices (e.g., computers, laptops, mobile devices, etc.) thatallow a user to enter specific advertisement information. The userdevices 306 communicate with the advertisement server 304 tocreate/upload advertisements and select time, date, and locationinformation. The selected locations correspond to specific locations(e.g., fast food restaurants, grocery stores, coffee shops, etc.) whereprinting devices 308 may be placed. Therefore, one or moreadvertisements sent to the printing devices 308 from the advertisementserver 304 via the network 302 are intended for the particular store orrestaurant where that printing device 308 is located. A worker at thatfacility can then use the printed advertisement that is printed on aparticular item (e.g., disposable container or other suitable medium)associated with a particular purchase. That item may then be used forits typical purpose, such as for holding, containing, or wrapping foodsand/or beverages or serving some other purpose associated with the fastfood and/or beverage industry.

The advertisement system 300 of FIG. 7 may include security measuresthat are incorporated throughout the respective system. Thus, when anadvertisement is created, security elements are added. Also, whenadvertisements are distributed to the printing devices 308, the securityelements can be verified to ensure that the advertisements areauthentic. Furthermore, when an advertisement is printed, the printingdevices 308 may also be configured to check the security elements. Thesecurity elements may include encoding/decoding protocols,encryption/decryption protocols, or other protocols known to theadvertisement server 304 and printing devices 308. In some embodiments,the components of the advertisement system 300 may utilize codecharacters, passwords, or other codes that are configured to change in acertain way. For example, a code number may increase by a certain valueon a regular basis (e.g., every day). Also, the components of thesystems may be configured to use and check for certain advertisementcharacteristics to ensure security. For example, these advertisementcharacteristics may include a specific size of an image of theadvertisement, a specific type of file, a file naming convention, aspecific number of dots per inch (dpi) for the advertisements, or othercharacteristics.

Not only can the advertisement system 300 of FIG. 7 be used foradvertisements, but it can also be used for promoting or announcinglocal events, promoting brand affinity with local organizations (e.g.,local sports teams), promoting special events (e.g., sporting events,fairs, festivals, etc.), and raising money for charity. Theadvertisement system 300 allows advertisers to easily target specificareas. Also, advertisers can run advertisements at specific times,depending on local events or other occurrences that may have a limitedduration (e.g., a fair or circus in a local area, etc.).

As opposed to a system that prints advertisements in bulk for oneadvertiser, the advertisement system 300 of the present disclosureenables multiple advertisers to advertise as many advertisements as theywish and have the advertisements targeted at only certain locations. Inthis regard, the present disclosure provides a variable system that canselect from among a plurality of advertisements, depending on variousparameters. Also, the advertisements can be printed on a medium that canbe easily viewed by a consumer, particularly during a time when theconsumer is eating or drinking. During this time, a consumer's attentionis normally directed to their food and/or beverage, thereby giving theconsumer many opportunities to see the item on which the advertisementis printed and making the advertisement more effective.

The advertisement server 304 is also configured to enable an advertiserto create an advertisement strategy or advertisement campaign, asmentioned above. An advertiser can create advertisement strategies byentering information regarding the actual advertisement content, one ormore locations where the advertisement is to be printed and used, one ormore days, times of the days, the types of items on which theadvertisements are printed, and other factors.

The printing devices 308 may also be configured to communicate with theadvertisement server 304 to provide information about the details of theadvertisements that were printed. Thus, the printing devices 308 provideverification that the advertisements were printed as scheduled. Theverification information may include information regarding whichadvertisements were printed, the location where the advertisements wereprinted, the time and date when the advertisements were printed, theitem on which the advertisements were printed, the time when the printeditem was given to a customer, and other relevant information.

Communication between the advertisement server 304 and printing devices308 may be limited to specific times of the day or specific days of theweek, depending on various implementation. Communication involvesproviding advertisements to the printing devices 308 with instructionsfor printing. Communication also involves providing confirmation back tothe advertisement server 304 of the printing of advertisements.

The advertisement server 304 of FIG. 3 may be configured similarly tothe server 120 shown in FIG. 4. Also, the printing devices 308 of FIG. 3may be configured similarly to the ticket printing device 140 shown inFIG. 4. However, instead of being configured for printing on tickets,the advertisement server 304 and printing devices 308 are configured toprint on other types of media as discussed above. The details of theadvertisement server 304 and printing devices 308 are therefore omittedhere for the sake of brevity.

Therefore, according to some implementations, an advertising system maycomprise an advertisement server configured to manage the printing ofadvertisements at a plurality of predetermined locations and at aplurality of predetermined times. The advertising system may comprise aplurality of printing devices operating at the plurality ofpredetermined locations, each printing device configured to printadvertisements on items associated with purchases at various stores,restaurants, or shops. A network may be configured to enablecommunication between the advertisement server and the plurality ofprinting devices. Thus, the printing devices are configured to print theadvertisements according to the plurality of predetermined times basedon when at least one advertiser intends for the advertisements to beprinted.

The advertisements may be printed at the time of purchase or printed inadvance. Also, the advertisements may be printed individually or inbulk. An example of preprinting in bulk might include a situation wherea fast food restaurant preprints placemats intended for use that thatweek, day, or hour. This would allow the advertisers to still choose alocation and a time window for the ad placement while allowing therestaurant to prepare the placemats ahead of time to ensure there is nodelay during a rush.

Displaying Advertisements on Electronic Devices

In some embodiments, the advertisement system 300 may further includemeans for issuing mobile advertisements, such as advertisements oncellular phones, smart phones, or other mobile devices. Theadvertisements may be supplied to a mobile device based on a GPSlocation of the consumer, the consumer's purchases, or other factors.The advertisement may be sent via a prerecorded phone message, a textmessage, or other communication. Advertisements sent to a mobile devicemay allow the particular establishment to offer a unique advertisementto mobile device users. For example, a fast food restaurant may offer acustomer on the premises a special deal on desserts.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating another embodiment of anadvertisement system 320. In this embodiment, the advertisement system320 includes, among other things, one or more networks 322, anadvertisement server 324, and one or more advertiser devices 326, whichare similar to the public networks, servers, and user devices describedabove with respect to other embodiments. An advertiser can create and/orupload one or more advertisements to the advertisement server 324 fromthe advertiser device 326 and create advertisement campaigns. However,instead of advertisements being printed on tickets or on other media, asdescribed above, the advertisement system 320 of FIG. 8 presentsadvertisements in visual and/or audible form on one or more digitaldevices.

The advertisement system 320 may include one or more antennas 328. Theantennas 328 may be in the form of antenna towers, cellular towers,broadcast television towers, radio towers, and may be associated withother suitable broadcasting antennas, towers, satellites, and otherequipment for wirelessly broadcasting signals to remote locations. Forexample, the antennas 328 may broadcast advertisements to televisions330, radios 332, mobile devices 334, and other wireless signal receivingdevices.

The antennas 328 may also include proprietary communication equipmentfor wirelessly communicating to specific advertising devices. Forexample, the antennas 328 may communicate with digital billboards 336 toprovide advertisements to be displayed on the digital billboards 336.

The antennas 328 can also wirelessly communicate advertisementinformation to an advertising vehicle 338. The advertising vehicle 338may be a truck, van, automobile, or other vehicle. The advertisingvehicle 338 includes a digital display device, which may be mounted to aside panel or back panel of the vehicle. In this respect, advertisementsmay be presented to and observed by other drivers or passengers in thevicinity of the advertising vehicle 338. In some embodiments, theadvertising vehicle 338 may include a GPS device for determining thelocation of the vehicle. The location information can be communicated tothe advertisement server 324, which may select specific advertisement(s)based on the vehicles location. If the vehicle travels over a longdistance, the displayed advertisement may be changed, depending onwhether the advertisements are targeted to customers in particularareas.

For instance, a truck travelling from New York to Miami may have adigital billboard display that changes along the way. The advertisementscan be updated automatically based on the particular location and theproximity to different cities. Ads displayed on the truck's digitalbillboard display can also be automatically changed based on highwayexits. For instance, when the truck passes one exit, the advertisementscan be changed to advertise for restaurants, gas stations, local sites,or other businesses that may be near an upcoming exit. The updated adscan then show nearby drivers at least some options for restaurants orgas stations at upcoming exits. In this embodiment, the advertisingportal of the present disclosure may further be configured to allow anadvertiser to enter not only location information, but also directionalinformation with respect to the travelling advertisement vehicle. Forexample, an advertiser may wish to advertise for a gas station at aspecific exit (e.g., exit 45) when the truck or other travellingadvertisement vehicle is travelling on a certain highway in a certaindirection (e.g., travelling south on I-95) when the truck is approachingthe specific exit (e.g., between exit 45 and exit 55).

The one or more networks 322 may include any number of networks forcommunication over various protocols. For example, at least one network322, such as the Internet, may include TCP/IP communications, includingelectrical and fiber cable communications and/or wireless communication.Also, the one or more networks 322 may include telephone lines, cellularphone transmission antennas, satellites, and/or other phonecommunication equipment, which may operate in conjunction with theantennas 328.

The advertisement system 320 also includes digital billboards 340 whichinclude wired communication with the network 322. The digital billboards336 and 340 may be similar to each other except for the manner in whichthey receive the advertisement information (i.e., via wirelesstransmission or wired communication).

The network 322 may be connected to other networks, such local areanetworks (LANs) 342. The LANs 342 may include one or more closed-circuittelevisions 344 or other type of closed-circuit display devices. In thisrespect, a control device operating on the LAN 342 may be configured toreceive advertisement information from the advertisement server 324 viathe network 322 and LAN 342 and forward the advertisement information tothe closed-circuit televisions 344 as directed. The LANs 342 andclosed-circuit televisions 344 may be located in many different areas,such as airports, bus stations, train stations, stadiums, auditoriums,banks, restaurants, amusement parks, or other areas.

In some embodiments, a GPS search website 346 may be associated with theadvertisement server 324. The advertisement server 324 may be configuredto determine when an end user requests a specific search for a locationprovided by the GPS search website 346. When such a search is conducted,the advertisement server 324 is configured to provide advertisementinformation to the GPS search website 346, which then combines thesearch results with advertisements specifically directed to advertisersin the vicinity of the specific GPS search results. In addition, the GPSsearch website 346 may also provide advertisement informationspecifically directed to advertisers located in between the user'slocation and a search destination or along a path that a user may travelfrom a start location to a destination location.

The advertisement system 320 of FIG. 8 may also include communication ofadvertisement to specific end user devices 348. For example, end userdevices 348, such as computers, laptops, mobile devices, smart phones,or other devices may be used to stream video and/or audio from onlinewebsites. These services may include video on demand, audio on demand,online entertainment channels, Internet television programs, Internetradio programs, and others. Based on specific selections by the user ofthe end user device 348, the advertisement server 324 combinesadvertisement information to the end user device 348 for presentationalong with the requested video and audio.

The advertisement server 324 and advertiser devices 326 of theadvertisement system 320 of FIG. 8 may include many of the same featuresdescribed above with respect to other servers and user devicesassociated with other embodiments. The advertisement system 320 may alsoinclude security measures that are incorporated throughout the system.Security elements of the advertisement system 320 may include variousprotocols as mentioned above, which may be utilized by some or all ofthe components of the advertisement system 320.

Since electronic devices, which are capable of presentingadvertisements, seem to be ubiquitous, the advertisement server 324 mayinclude a database that stores the locations of the devices and/or mayinclude a search function for electronically searching for the devices.When the locations of multiple electronic devices are known, anadvertiser can select the electronic devices on which to advertise. Forexample, an advertiser may wish to advertise on a national level, astatewide level, a county level, a city level, a neighborhood level, aschool district level, a street level, or even a single location (e.g.,store, shop, house, etc.). If multiple electronic devices are located ata single location, an advertiser can even select one or more of theelectronic devices at that location. This selection process allows theadvertisers to specifically target the electronic devices on which toadvertise.

Therefore, according to some implementations, an advertising system maycomprise a plurality of electronic devices and an advertisement serverconfigured to manage the display of a plurality of advertisements on theplurality of electronic devices. At least one network may be configuredto enable communication between the advertisement server and theplurality of electronic devices. The electronic devices may beconfigured to display the plurality of advertisements according topredetermined time parameters when at least one advertiser intends forthe advertisements to be printed.

Three-Dimensional Printing and Etching

The systems of the present disclosure may also be used in systems thatare configured for three-dimensional printing, etching (e.g., laseretching, chemical etching, etc.), and other various forms of graphicalcreation. Three-dimensional printing and etching may be executed atpredetermined locations where appropriate three-dimensional printersand/or etching equipment are housed. For example, a fast food restaurantmay have three-dimensional printing and/or etching equipment forcreating and/or modifying a small token or toy that is given tocustomers. With such equipment on location, the restaurant is able toprovide customized advertisements or other type of printing (e.g.,etching a customer's name) on the token or toy. The customized objectcan include advertisement information on any surface of the object.

The three-dimensional printers and/or etching equipment may besubstituted for the printing devices or digital devices described abovewith respect to the other embodiments. The process of creation/uploadingadvertisements may be similar to the above-described embodiments, exceptthat the advertisements to be printed three-dimensionally and/or etchedonto a surface may include additional information regarding spatialfeatures, depths of etching layers, colors, etc. Three-dimensional adsmay also take the form of a projection or display, such as a holographicimage or 3D video, which can be shown in a 3D projector, a 3D headset,or other 3D displaying system.

In some embodiments, objects on which advertisements are printed oretched may be treated by the application of light, energy, chemicals,heat, or other resource. Advertisements may become visible by addingmaterial to the objects or removing material.

Therefore, according to some implementations, an advertising system maycomprise an advertisement server configured to manage the creation ofadvertisements at a plurality of locations and at a plurality of times.The advertising system may also comprise a plurality of printing/etchingdevices operating in the plurality of predetermined locations, eachprinting/etching device being configured to print or etch advertisementsonto three-dimensional objects. A network may be configured to enablecommunication between the advertisement server and the plurality ofprinting/etching devices. The printing/etching devices may be configuredto print or etch the advertisements at the plurality of times accordingto when at least one advertiser intends for the advertisements to beprinted.

Conditional Advertising

The advertisement servers described above may also be configured toenable an advertiser to select or create advertisements that are printedor presented when certain conditions are met. For example, conditionaladvertising may be established beforehand to allow advertising to bebased on real-time events. For example, an advertiser may wish toadvertise for ice cream when the temperature in a particular area isextremely hot. Or an advertiser may wish to advertise for flashlights,batteries, and other emergency supplies if a severe storm is expected tohit a certain area. Or an advertiser may wish to draw customers awayfrom heavy traffic areas to locations of stores that are more lightlytraveled. Also, special deals may be offered if certain products are notselling as expected.

Therefore, conditional advertising can be based on any number ofmeasures, such as temperature, current weather conditions, weatherforecasts, traffic conditions, current events, local events, upcomingevents, supply/demand figures, and other factors. The conditional eventsmay be based on a simple yes/no condition (e.g., a school day or not aschool day) or may be based on the degree of a certain factor (e.g.,more than 4 inches of snow in the forecast). Any number of conditionsmay be selected ahead of time for defining the particular times orconditions when an advertiser wishes to print or display theadvertisements.

Also, the advertising servers may be configured to adjust the pricing ofadvertisements based on one or more of the conditions. For example, if atown has a special event that attracts a large number of people to thetown, the cost for advertising may be increased since the demand may begreater.

Conditional advertising may also be based on factors regarding competingadvertisers. For example, the advertisement servers may honoradvertisers based on a first-come, first-serve basis. Alternatively, theadvertisement servers may utilize an advertisement selection based onthe highest bidder for a particular advertisement space or time-slot.

Ordering Multiple Types of Ads from Multiple Vendors

The present disclosure further describes systems for ordering, creating,and distributing multiple types of advertisements across a variety ofadvertisement mediums from a variety of advertisement providers. Anadvertiser can order the delivery of an advertisement to be printed ordisplayed at one or more specific locations at one or more specifictimes. The boundaries of the specific location(s) as well as theboundaries of the time window(s) can be predetermined or set by theadvertiser. Examples of locations include, but are not limited to, adsto be displayed at one specific location, within a certain distance(e.g., a one-mile, five-mile, or ten-mile radius) from a location, orwithin the borders of a country, state, city, county, or otherjurisdiction. Examples of times include, but are not limited to, acertain time or time period on a certain day, within multiple times ortime periods of a certain day or days, within a set of hours on acertain day, within certain hours each weekday, within a certain year,month, week, or day, continuing from an immediate time until the end ofa certain time or condition, or other times. Further, locations canrepresent the site, sites, building, buildings, complex, or otherstructures of a business or other pre-defined static locations. Also,the locations can represent one or more moving locations (e.g., avehicle, mobile phone, etc.) that can be determinable by GPS or othermeans.

Ad types can be audio, audio/visual, a single image, a moving image, animage on a ticket, on a toy, on a food wrapper or cup, on a digitalbillboard, on a digital display in public, on a digital display on amobile device, on a display at a mall, or other types of advertisements.Ads can be printed in one or more sections and placed on a traditionalbillboard. Ads can be displayed on a traditional television, InternetTV, traditional radio, or Internet radio. Ads can also be presented as3D projections at a certain location, such as at a shopping mall,theater, restaurant, home, etc. Ads can also be projected/displayedwithin a 3D headset or display, such as within a virtual reality system.Ads can be interactive ads that a viewer can interact with.

In some embodiments, the advertisement managing system 40, 104,advertisement server 304, 324, or other system or device for managing orcontrolling the ordering, creating, and/or distribution of advertisementmay utilize one or more portal devices, websites, or other suitablecontrol devices. The portal devices may be associated with one or moread sellers who sell multiple types of ads through the portal device. Anad buyer may be anyone from an individual person to a multinationalcompany may use the one or more portal devices for designing, ordering,managing, and paying for ads and ad campaigns. The portals may also beused to analyze the success of one or more ads. The analysis of thesuccess of the ads may be determined based on targeted vs. massmarketing, location information, time information, etc.

The advertisement portals/websites may be configured to enableadvertisers to create and/or upload their own ads. Advertisers cancreate campaigns where they order certain ads in certain areas atcertain times. The ad orders may be conditional as mentioned above. Insome embodiments, advertisers may use advertising agents and/or agenciesin various markets for various types of ads. Further, advertisers mayhave various entities within their corporate structure that have controlover certain ads or ad campaigns, such as an international office,national office, regional office, local office, etc.

The advertisement portals, according to some embodiments, may allow forthe option of multiple interactive hierarchal accounts. For instance, anad agency may have numerous accounts for their various clients. Theclients may have multiple accounts with multiple ad agencies, perhapswhere each ad agency may specialize in advertising in various parts ofthe world and in various types of advertisements or advertisementmediums. The clients may also comprise various levels within their owncorporate structure that may be international, national, regional,local, etc. While there may be multiple ad providers, multiple adagencies, and multiple corporate entities, the portal or portals of thepresent disclosure can provide a common way for ordering, creating,organizing, distributing, and tracking ads across all the providers andagencies in a manner that can be customized and organized to fit theneeds of the various users.

The advertisement arrangement may be arranged such that various levelsor hierarchies will have the option to give or restrict certain rights.For instance, one ad agency may give a client full rights to order ads,while another may put restrictions on some clients, such as a spendinglimit. One company may give a local branch only the rights to place adslocally etc. The advertising portals may allow these rights andpermissions can go in both directions. The advertising portals can beused to control the various rules, restrictions, limits, etc. on thevarious entities. Thus, an ad agency can utilize the advertising portalsto limit the spending of the client, or the client can utilize theadvertising portals to limit the spending of the agency.

Variable Determinable Content Printing

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, systems may beconfigured for printing “variable determinable content” at a point ofsale (POS) terminal. Variable determinable content may refer todetermining certain additional information that may be printed based onpurchases made at the POS terminal. One example of this is where acustomer may place a special order at a fast food restaurant, such as aburger with extra cheese. The systems of the present disclosure may beconfigured to make various calculations, such as calculating the changein calories of the burger. The systems may also print a list ofingredients, calorie and nutrition information, and other informationbased on the changes in the special order. Such systems may also includethe same or similar security and delivery options as mentioned above forthe advertisement systems.

It should be understood that the routines, steps, processes, oroperations described herein may represent any module or code sequencethat can be implemented in software or firmware. In this regard, thesemodules and code sequences can include commands or instructions forexecuting the specific logical routines, steps, processes, or operationswithin physical components. It should further be understood that two ormore of the routines, steps, processes, and/or operations describedherein may be executed substantially simultaneously or in a differentorder than explicitly described, as would be understood by one ofordinary skill in the art.

The implementations described herein represent a number of possibleimplementations and examples and are not intended to necessarily limitthe present disclosure to any specific implementations. Instead, variousmodifications can be made to these implementations as would beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art. Any such modificationsare intended to be included within the spirit and scope of the presentdisclosure and protected by the following claims.

I claim:
 1. An advertising system comprising: an advertisement serverconfigured to manage the printing of advertisements at a plurality ofpredetermined locations and at a plurality of predetermined times; aplurality of printing devices operating at the plurality ofpredetermined locations, each printing device configured to print anadvertisement on an item associated with a purchase; a networkconfigured to enable communication between the advertisement server andthe plurality of printing devices; wherein the printing devices areconfigured to print the advertisements according to the plurality ofpredetermined times based on when at least one advertiser intends forthe advertisements to be printed.
 2. The advertising system of claim 1,wherein the item associated with the purchase includes at least one of asoda cup, a napkin, a sandwich/burger wrapper, a French fry container, apaper placemat, a tray liner, a restaurant take-out bag, a paper grocerybag, a pizza box, a flyer to be applied to a pizza box or otherdisposable item, a sticker to be applied to a disposable item, acoffee/hot-beverage cup, and a heat-insulating sleeve associated with acoffee/hot-beverage cup.
 3. The advertising system of claim 2, whereinthe plurality of locations include at least one of restaurants, grocerystores, and food/beverage serving facilities.
 4. The advertising systemof claim 3, wherein the advertisements are printed on the itemassociated with the purchase at the plurality of locations immediatelybefore using the item to serve food/beverage to a customer.
 5. Theadvertising system of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of userdevices, each user device enabling an advertiser to interact online withthe advertisement server to perform at least one of the operations ofcreating an advertisement and uploading a previously-createdadvertisement.
 6. The advertising system of claim 5, wherein theadvertisement server is configured to enable the advertiser to selectspecific hours of specific days when an advertisement is to be run. 7.The advertising system of claim 5, wherein the advertisement server isconfigured to enable the advertiser to select one or more of theplurality of locations where an advertisement is to be run.
 8. Theadvertising system of claim 7, wherein the advertisement server isconfigured to enable the advertiser to select locations based on atleast one of a nationwide scale, statewide scale, citywide scale,countywide scale, and zip-code scale.
 9. The advertising system of claim7, wherein the advertisement server is configured to enable theadvertiser to select locations based on a distance of the locations fromone or more stores associated with the advertiser.
 10. The advertisingsystem of claim 1, wherein the advertisement server is configured tomanage the printing of the advertisements according to specificconditions associated with at least one of temperature, current weatherconditions, weather forecasts, traffic conditions, current events, localevents, upcoming events, and supply/demand figures.
 11. The advertisingsystem of claim 1, wherein the advertisement server and plurality ofprinting devices include means for ensuring security and authenticidentification of the advertisements.
 12. The advertising system ofclaim 1, wherein the advertisement server is further configured to checkfor inappropriate language in the advertisement.
 13. The advertisingsystem of claim 1, wherein the advertisement server comprises a databasefor storing the advertisements, the database further configured to storeinformation regarding one or more locations where the advertisements areto be printed and to store information regarding the times when theadvertisements are to be printed.
 14. The advertising system of claim13, wherein the advertisement server is configured to bundle a pluralityof advertisements into an ad bundle and transmit the ad bundle to aspecific printing device before the times when the advertisements are tobe printed.
 15. An advertising system comprising: an advertisementserver configured to manage the creation of advertisements at aplurality of locations and at a plurality of times; a plurality ofprinting/etching devices operating in the plurality of predeterminedlocations, each printing/etching device configured to print or etchadvertisements onto three-dimensional objects; a network configured toenable communication between the advertisement server and the pluralityof printing/etching devices; wherein the printing/etching devices areconfigured to print or etch the advertisements at the plurality of timesaccording to when at least one advertiser intends for the advertisementsto be printed.
 16. The advertising system of claim 15, wherein thethree-dimensional objects include at least one restaurant toy or token,and wherein the advertisements are printed or etched on thethree-dimensional objects at the plurality of locations immediatelybefore they are given to customers.
 17. The advertising system of claim15, further comprising a plurality of user devices, each user deviceenabling online interaction with the advertisement server to perform atleast one of the operations of creating an advertisement and uploading apreviously-created advertisement; wherein the advertisement server isconfigured to enable the selection of specific hours of specific dayswhen an advertisement is to be printed or etched; wherein theadvertisement server is configured to enable the selection of one ormore of the plurality of locations where an advertisement is to be run,the selected locations based on at least one of a nationwide scale,statewide scale, citywide scale, countywide scale, zip-code scale, and adistance of the locations from one or more advertiser stores.
 18. Anadvertising system comprising: a plurality of electronic devices; anadvertisement server configured to manage the display of a plurality ofadvertisements on the plurality of electronic devices; and at least onenetwork configured to enable communication between the advertisementserver and the plurality of electronic devices; wherein the electronicdevices are configured to display the plurality of advertisementsaccording to predetermined time parameters when at least one advertiserintends for the advertisements to be printed.
 19. The advertising systemof claim 18, wherein the electronic devices include at least one of adigital billboard, a closed-circuit television, a device for displayingGPS search results, and a device for playing video and/or audio ondemand.
 20. The advertising system of claim 18, wherein the at least onenetwork further includes at least one wireless communication device forbroadcasting the advertisements, and wherein the electronic devicesinclude at least one remote device configured to wirelessly receive anddisplay the broadcast advertisements.
 21. The advertising system ofclaim 20, wherein the at least one remote device is a display devicemounted on a vehicle for electronically displaying the advertisements.22. The advertising system of claim 21, wherein the display devicemounted on the vehicle is configured to display a first advertisementbased on a first location of the vehicle and to display a secondadvertisement based on a second location of the vehicle.
 23. Theadvertising system of claim 20, wherein the at least one remote deviceis a digital billboard.
 24. The advertising system of claim 18, whereinthe advertisement server and electronic devices include means forensuring security and authentic identification of the advertisements.25. The advertising system of claim 18, wherein the advertisement serveris configured to manage the display of the advertisements according tospecific conditions associated with at least one of temperature, currentweather conditions, weather forecasts, traffic conditions, currentevents, local events, upcoming events, and supply/demand figures.